An Unpleasant Task
by pamela1967
Summary: A few days after the final battle, Harry must oversee an unpleasant duty.  Kinda of a dark story  for me, anyway  and apparently born from my disturbing need to tie up any loose ends.


Don't ask me where this story came from. Apparently I have a disturbing need to tie up the loose ends that JKR left. It's a bit darker than I usually write. I don't own Harry Potter. Wish I did, but I don't.

**An Unpleasant Task.**

Harry woke in the deep darkness of night. Sliding his glasses on, he grabbed the small clock with his left hand and his wand in his right. "Lumos." The wand's light illuminated the clock face. Three a.m. Sighing, he slid out of bed and lit the lamp. Only Ron was sharing the Gryffindor dorm with him and, judging by the snoring sounds, he was still sleeping. Harry decided not to wake him yet. The task needed to be completed this morning but the plan was to set out around 4:30. Ron could sleep another hour.

Harry dressed quickly pulling a thick shirt on over his t-shirt. He would need a jacket as well in the early morning chill. Plus the Forbidden Forest promised to be cold. He pulled on his shoes, extinguished the lamp and made his way out of the dormitory and down to the common room. Empty. Hermione wasn't up yet either. He crossed over to the fireplace and directed his wand to the grate. A warming, crackling fire instantly sprung up. Harry sunk down in the armchair closest to the fire and lit the lamp on the table next to him. He noticed the last two day's editions of _The Daily Prophet_ sitting there and decided to catch up on the news. In the two days since the final battle, Harry had only heard the various news stories from other people. He remembered_ The_ _Daily Prophet _arriving very late in the morning during the aftermath of the great battle but he didn't bother to read it then. The headlines had screamed **"WAR IS OVER! DARK LORD IS DEAD!"** He could only imagine scene at the_ Prophet _as editors and writers scrambled to reprint that day's newspapers after the imperious curses begun to lift. He imagined that the now shredded version of May 2nd's original edition told the story of "Undesirable No. 1's break in at Gringotts Bank." It seemed so long ago now.

Just as he was beginning to read about the Ministry's attempts to regain order, he heard a soft sound of padding feet behind him. Reacting quickly, he jumped up and spun around, wand at the ready. A small house elf, obviously startled, cowered a bit. "Sorry!" Harry stammered. "I didn't see you there!"

"Lokky is so sorry, Mr. Harry Potter, Sir!" Squeaked the elf. "Lokky didn't mean to…"

"No. It's ok." Harry reassured her. He noticed the cleaning rags and bucket on the floor behind her. "I just didn't realize you were here. I'm sorry if I scared you." He stowed his wand back into his pocket. "You were just doing your job and I interrupted you. And I can imagine how difficult your job is now with half the castle blown apart." He sat back down and was more at eye level with the little elf.

She nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, Mr. Harry Potter, sir. It's a lot of work but we's likes to clean the castle!" Her eyes shone brightly in the firelight. "We wish the castle wasn't so damaged but we can help make it better!"

"Yes, I think the entire wizarding world knows how elves can help set things right." Her face began to turn pink. "That was very brave of all of you to fight during the battle."

"Kreacher told us all that we needed to fight against the Dark Lord," Here she paused. "The way Dobby did, sir."

Harry sighed. "Yes. Dobby was my good friend. I was very, very sad when he died. I miss him very much. He was so brave."

The girl elf hung her head. "Lokky wishes she was as brave as Dobby. Lokky was scared when she fought in the battle." Harry realized that 'Lokky' (as her name obviously was) was disappointed in herself. He got up from his chair and knelt before her.

"Lokky, do you think that Dobby wasn't afraid?" She looked at him with tears threatening to spill over in her huge, brown eyes. "Dobby was very afraid. I was also afraid during the battle."

Lokky shook her head slowly. "Harry Potter wasn't afraid. Lokky saw Harry Potter when he triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! Harry Potter wasn't…"

But Harry shook his head. "No, I wasn't really afraid at that point, no. But I was afraid earlier." Her eyes grew so wide, they were perfect circles. "I was afraid for myself and for my friends. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop him before he and his followers hurt more people." He sighed again. "I wish I could have stopped him earlier." Harry got up from the floor and sat back down in the chair and stared at the fire. Lokky crept closer to him, clearly not knowing what to say. She stood there silently for a few moments and then she covered his hand with hers.

"Would…would Harry Potter like Lokky to bring him something? Some tea or breakfast?" Harry smiled at her, touched.

"I'm not ready for breakfast yet. Could you please bring me a cup of coffee?"

"Right away, Harry Potter sir!" Delighted to be able to do something for him, she ran back to her bucket and rags and Disapparated. Within 5 minutes, she was back bearing a tray with a large carafe of coffee, cream, sugar and three cups. Thanking her, Harry went back to perusing the paper and sipping the coffee. Shortly after four, Ron joined him and gratefully accepted a cup of coffee, his eyes quite bleary and his hair almost as messy as Harry's. Within 5 minutes, Hermione had joined them, her long hair in a single, neat braid down her back. They sat in compatible silence, each reading the papers and drinking the coffee till it was 4:30. They all had been trying not to think about why they were up so early. Or of the task ahead of them.

When the clock struck the half hour mark, they all looked at each other. "Right," said Ron, putting down his cup and getting up from the couch. "Let's do this then." He reached a hand down to Hermione and gently pulled her up. They continued to hold hands as the trio exited the common room. Harry felt a bit envious of the two of them. Ginny had gone back to the Burrow with her parents and was preparing for Fred's funeral. Harry, Ron and Hermione would join them there later that morning.

As they entered the great hall, now vastly improved in looks since the debris had been cleared away, a small knot of people turned toward them and greeted them softly. Professor McGonagall was there as well as Hagrid, new temporary minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, Arthur Weasly, a goblin from Gringotts whom Harry did not know and the centaur Bane. All were looking grave and all but Bane were dressed in sturdy clothes. They would be walking into the Forbidden Forest.

"Where is he?" asked Harry. McGonagall pointed to the small chamber off the great hall. Voldemort's body was still where it was placed after the battle. They all entered the chamber where an auror was finishing up his job of checking the body of Tom Riddle for any magical items. Riddle's yew wand was found at Malfoy Manor and was confiscated by the ministry. Tom Riddle was to be buried today and while a wand is often buried with its owner, Harry didn't want anything magical to be buried with him. He had the uneasy feeling that some of his most ardent supporters would seek out the grave and he didn't want to make it easy for them. Besides, the wand would be studied by the aurors and they would hopefully be able to trace back some of Voldemort's crimes to that wand using _priori incantatem._

Riddle was now laid on a single white sheet. Harry came forward and he and the auror began to wrap the body up till he somewhat resembled a mummy. Knotting the ends of the sheet together across the body, Harry stepped away. He suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to wash his hands. Seeing the look on the face of the auror who helped him, he excused them both and they retreated to the nearest bathroom to scrub their hands and arms up to their elbows. Harry suspected that they would all need to shower after their task was done. The trek through the forest would doubtless leave them dirty. But the thought of being so close to Voldemort, even though he was dead…

When Harry and the auror returned, the body had been levitated into the air and was hovering in front of Kingsley who was guiding it with his wand. Harry shrugged into his jacket and took the lantern that Hagrid offered him. Hagrid and Mr. Weasly also each had a lantern and the small group left the castle and headed into the forest. They were all silent as they walked deeper and deeper amongst the trees. The night was still very dark and even in daylight, the area they were in would see precious little light. Occasionally, Kingsley would ask a question to Bane and their direction would change. For well over an hour, they walked till they came to a very small clearing. The trees were still very thick and very little sun would ever make it through the canopy of leaves but there was an area on the ground that was about ten feet wide devoid of trees and brush. Harry looked back at Kingsley and Bane. Bane stopped and stood still, only his hind right foot stamping a bit. He said in his deep voice, "No centaur has been here recently and we have no reason to be in this place."

Kingsley lowered his wand and the body of Tom Riddle was lowered to the ground. McGonagall stepped forward and aimed her wand at the clearing. A deep hole appeared with quite a lot of dirt piled next to it. Harry peered into the hole. McGonagall had made it at least 15 feet deep, cutting through tree roots and rock. The sides were smooth. Everyone was silent as Harry stepped forward. He pointed his wand at the remains of Tom Riddle and the body lifted off the ground. He directed it towards the hole and lowered it into the ground, deeper and deeper till it rested on the bottom. He then waved his wand at the pile of dirt and rock and it lifted itself back into the hole. Another wave of the wand and the ground was smooth. No one would ever realize that there was a grave there. Even the slight traces of magic that was used to create the grave would soon disappear.

Silently, the group stood looking at the ground. Kingsley then spoke in his calm, deep voice. "We are all witnesses of the burial of the wizard Tom Riddle who called himself Lord Voldemort. We have buried him in here, well away from the bodies of the people who died fighting him and away from the castle where he made his last battle. We now pledge that we will not mark this grave. Nor will we tell the exact location of this grave to anyone else. "

"No problem there," muttered Ron. "I haven't any bloody idea where we are anyway!"

Everyone heard and there was a slight chuckle from the humans. The goblin and the centaur still looked as grave as ever. Everyone present nodded to each other and began to make their way back to the castle. Twenty minutes after they left the unmarked grave, Bane left the group to return to his herd. It took the rest of them longer to leave the forest than it took for them to get there. Moving slowly, they exited the forest near Hagrid's hut. Harry and Mr. Weasley handed him back his lanterns and bid him goodbye.

In Hogwarts' entryway, the goblin took his leave of the group and the remaining humans went into the great hall. Breakfast was now on the tables for the staff and the ministry officials who were working on repairing the physical damage to the castle. Harry wondered how long it would be before the psychological scars from that night would begin to heal.

Mr. Weasly excused himself and walked out of the hall. The rest sat and ate slowly the excellent breakfast that appeared before them, all of them suddenly hungry. "Do you think it was a good idea having Bane and the goblin at the burial?" asked Hermione.

"I think so," replied Kingsley. "Goblins aren't too happy with wizards in general but they liked Death Eaters even less. Plus Voldemort killed quite a few goblins over the last two years so they're definitely not upset at the change in ministry. As for the centaurs, trusting them in this venture will only strengthen our alliance with them. Hopefully it will help undo some of the damage caused by Fudge and Umbridge."

"Got room for one more?" asked a soft voice behind Harry. His face lit up as he stood and faced Ginny. She hugged him hard and whispered in his ear, "My dad suggested I come." Ginny joined the group and the discussion centered around the new politics of the ministry and of the work of rooting out the Death Eaters' supporters. Soon afterward, Kingsley and the auror left for the ministry and McGonagall back to her office. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny got up and started to leave the hall when Harry suddenly stopped and looked around.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I just realized…" Harry's voice trailed off. "When I leave Hogwarts this time, It'll be for good." Ron and Hermione also paused to look at the great hall. Harry continued, "This was my first real home. The first place I felt I was wanted, where people _liked_ me."

Ginny's arm reached around his waist. "I know of another place you can call home, where you are wanted and liked. And I'm not talking about Grimmold place, either." She smiled at him and he bent his head to kiss her softly.

"You're right, of course." He turned his back on the great hall and started toward the dormitory to gather what little possessions he had left there. He was heading home, to the burrow and to his family.


End file.
